ODVA suggests EtherNet/IP for process industries

ODVA, the industry organization overseeing the EtherNet/IP Ethernet protocol, DeviceNet, and other network technologies, suggested that manufacturers define future network architecture and plan for the efficient integration of the plant network infrastructure into existing business applications. Benefits, ODVA said, include maintaining cost-effective, sustainable production capacity in the process industries. ODVA discussed process industries' use of EtherNet/IP (EIP) in a white paper, Optimization of Process Integration, and at the ODVA's 2014 Industry Conference, both in February. ODVA envisions an approach to the optimization of process integration that:

Is convergent, compatible, scalable, and open for users and their suppliers

Will simplify the exchange of configuration, diagnostic, and production data between field devices and higher-level systems, such as supervisory control and data acquisition systems

Will enable plant asset management (PAM) and secure remote access of field installations.

"In ARC's vision for the plant of the future, Ethernet is integrated into process automation systems," said Dick Hill, vice president and general manager, ARC Advisory Group. "The application of Ethernet technology to process automation promises to collapse these systems into a paradoxically simpler structure, while providing a solid basis for distributed intelligence with the elimination of artificial barriers to data and information."

Katherine Voss, president and executive director, ODVA, said industry has increased use of Ethernet and IP technologies in automation systems used in process industries. "As EtherNet/IP is proven in hybrid and discrete industries, it is an ideal technology to provide process industries with a unified communication solution from the field to the enterprise."

Optimization of process integration (OPI), ODVA said, can help the industrial ecosystem and production domain.

About ODVA

Founded in 1995, ODVA is a global association whose members are automation companies. ODVA said its "mission is to advance open, interoperable information and communication technologies in industrial automation. ODVA recognizes its media independent network protocol, the Common Industrial Protocol, or "CIP," and the network adaptations of CIP-EtherNet/IP, DeviceNet, CompoNet, and ControlNet-as its core technology and the primary common interest of its membership.

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Before the calendar turned, 2016 already had the makings of a pivotal year for manufacturing, and for the world.

There were the big events for the year, including the United States as Partner Country at Hannover Messe in April and the 2016 International Manufacturing Technology Show in Chicago in September. There's also the matter of the U.S. presidential elections in November, which promise to shape policy in manufacturing for years to come.

But the year started with global economic turmoil, as a slowdown in Chinese manufacturing triggered a worldwide stock hiccup that sent values plummeting. The continued plunge in world oil prices has resulted in a slowdown in exploration and, by extension, the manufacture of exploration equipment.